Potion Love
by BewitchedMoonFlower
Summary: STORY HAS BEEN ABANDONED. A little mishap in Potions has Draco and Hermione thinking a potion made them fall in love with each other. But was it just the potion or was it there the whole time?
1. Chapter 1:Dreams and Duels

**Author's Note: New story!! Yay! I kinda gave up on Love Sucks When You're a Vampire. Sorry people! But hey, this one is sooooo much better!! Hope you like!**

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Potion Love

Chapter 1: Dream and Duel

"…And in further news, I would like to congratulate Miss Hermione Granger for becoming Head Girl and for being the best student this school has ever seen!"

Applause nearly ripped the Great Hall in two. People were banging their fists on tables and whistling as Hermione stood up and blushed modestly as everyone, including Professor Snape and his house of Slytherins roared and cheered for her. Harry and Ron were whooping and banging the table the loudest and giving her admiring looks.

Ginny stood up and had to yell over the roaring for Hermione to hear her but what she said was truly spectacular.

"I'm your biggest fan! I'm going to make a new club! The Hermione Fan Club, and there, everyone will read amazing books that you have read and will study just as hard so we can be just like you!"

Then the most dashing boy in the school came up to her, took her hand and proceeded to get down on his knees and propose.

Hermione squealed and said yes, even though she knew this boy not.

The Great Hall became eerily quiet. Hermione looked up. They were not in the Great Hall at all but were, in fact, in what looked suspiciously like a dungeon for it was equipped with chains hanging from the ceiling that looked like they were meant for dangling people from their wrists, torches that held blue flames, and a metal bed that had wrist and ankle holders attached and looked like it had dried blood on it.

"Wh-what happened? Where am I?" Hermione made to take a step back but was stopped by the boy who was still holding onto her hand. "Where are we?" She repeated.

The boy at her feet chuckled darkly and raised his now hooded head and looked at her with his eyes in shadow.

"Where you should be you filthy little Mudblood." Came the scathing voice. She could see his lips curve into a very familiar smirk.

"Malfoy…." Hermione's voice came out in a scared whisper.

Malfoy chucked darkly again and raised the hood that was obscuring most of his face. His cold, beautiful features came into focus under the harsh blue light, his blue-grey eyes sparkling with hatred and something else she couldn't quite put her finger on. His grip on her wrist suddenly increased and she fell to her knees as he jerked her down. His hand that wasn't holding hers went to her neck and started applying pressure there too. Her other hand came up to try to break his hold upon her neck. He just laughed again. Then his features changed and the pale skin turned even paler and his blue eyes gleamed red, his beautiful features turning harsh and snake-like. His blonde hair receding until it was just ghost white skin that covered his head.

Hermione choked on a scream that tried to tear its way out of her throat as she stared into Lord Voldemort's face. He sneered at her.

"Time to wake up Hermione. It's time to go to breakfast."

Hermione awoke with a gasp and shot straight up in bed and banged her forehead against something hard.

"OUCH! Oh, I'm so sorry Lavender, I didn't mean to!" Hermione stammered out. When she had sat up, Lavender, who had been trying to wake Hermione up, had not gotten her head out of the way and the two girls had smashed into the other's head.

"Ow. It's ok, nothing a lil spell from my new _Beauty Spelle _book won't fix," Lavender said while rubbing the red mark on her forehead. She then proceeded towards Parvati's bed to wake her up.

Hermione said a few more apologies while she got dressed in her school robes and waited patiently for Lavender and Parvati to get ready and then left the Girl's Dormitory with both of them. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Lavender finally asked Hermione the question that Hermione had been hoping wouldn't be brought up.

"So, Hermione, what kind of dream did you have last night to make you jump like that?" Lavender asked with an air of casualty. Parvati looked from Lavender and Hermione in curiosity for she had still been sleeping when Lavender had tried to wake Hermione up.

"Ugh, well, I, er-" But she was saved from telling the two gossipers her strange dream in the form of her best friends, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and his sister, Ginny Weasly.

"Hey Hermione. Ready to go?" Came Harry's soothing voice from behind. She turned and grinned at the boys in front of her. Ron, red haired, freckled, and tall, was rubbing his eyes tiredly but smiling gently down at Lavender as she hugged him around the middle and looked up into his blue eyes to tell him good morning. Harry, bespectacled, scarred, and taller-than-Hermione-but-shorter-than-Ron Potter stood hand-in-hand with Ginny who was taller than Hermione now and wore the same tired look upon her face as her brother.

"Yes!" Hermione breathed out in relief. Harry raised an eyebrow but Hermione gave him a look that told him she'd tell him later.

At the thought of food, Ron perked up a bit and dragged Lavender after him towards the portrait hole, who in turn dragged Parvati along and the three disappeared down the corridor.

Ginny sighed. "I'm too tired for this." And she proceeded to walk behind the other two in a slight daze, not really listening to what they were saying.

"So Hermione, what's up with you? Why were you so relieved to see us?" Harry asked curiously.

While Hermione told the story of Lavender waking her up and then her dream, Harry listening avidly. She felt that Harry would at least understand strange dreams like these considering all the ones he's had over the years so she didn't feel like a paranoid dimbo. And with Ginny almost completely out of it, she needn't have feared the story getting to Ron who would undoubtedly think her exactly what she didn't want to be.

"Hmm, I think," Harry finally spoke while they were walking down the second to last flight of stairs leading to the Great Hall. They would have arrived earlier had Peeves not been blocking a passageway with ink bottles at the ready to throw at any passerby, which, unfortunately, happened to be Neville who had to go all the way back up to the Boy's Dormitory to change. "I think that it was just a dream and nothing more. Cause I mean, if it had meant something, that's an oddity in and of itself considering you don't have a connection like I did with Voldemort. And don't you think that's a good thing? Think about it! Having a connection with Draco Malfoy!"

Hermione snorted, turning her head sharply to the left with her eyes closed, not watching where she was going and nearly walked into a suit of armor if Harry hadn't prodded her in the right direction.

"The ferret hasn't been near me at all yet. Which is like heaven you know! At least I don't have to hear-OUCH!"

Hermione fell to the ground. She made a sound of pain and rubbed her bottom, on which she had fallen to the hard, unforgiving marble floor. Her bag fell from her grip. Books, quills, and ink bottles went skidding across the floor, a few ink bottles smashing and a book or two fell a few steps down the stairs. She heard someone else make a similar sound of displeasure and in looking up, found herself face to face with the said ferret.

'_Oh, shit.' _She thought, her eyes widening in shock and apprehension.

Draco Malfoy was in the same position as Hermione, sprawled on the floor with his bag contents everywhere. He was rubbing his shoulder which she had apparently run into. His blonde hair was messed up and falling in his eyes, though Hermione secretly thought it looked better that way. But, looks aren't everything and Draco gave proof to the statement by opening his mouth.

"Damn it! What the hell? Who the hell-" He cut off as his cold blue eyes found Hermione's chocolate ones. Hatred twisted his face.

"Oh. It's _you_." He smirked. "You'd do better to watch where you're going Mudblood. You just never know when you might be up to your _neck _in trouble." He stood up. "And don't touch me again, these are new robes. I don't want filth like you soiling them." His smirk grew. And with a flick of his wand, his belongings zoomed back into the bag that had floated into his hand. When everything was back in the bag, he pulled it over his shoulder.

"Shove off Malfoy!" Harry shot back as he helped Hermione up. When she was steady on her own two feet, he drew his wand alongside Ginny who seemed to have forgotten how tired she had been just seconds ago. Both of them glared at Malfoy while Hermione just stared at him. Her face was devoid of emotion. Harry glanced at her and knew she was reliving her nightmare and the fact that Malfoy had said _neck_ in that way made him think it might not have been a regular dream.

Malfoy snorted. "Don't want to be seen with you either Potter. But, I must ask, is the Weasley girl as good in bed as all the guys say?"

"_Stupefy!_"

"_Protego!_" Draco lazily flicked his wand and deflected Ginny's spell. Harry was holding her back with hatred written on his face himself.

Draco laughed. "She looks a bit tired Potter, I bet she's sick of pretending. Not giving her enough? She fed up with your lousy display in bed?" Draco laughed as Harry's face burned red and Ginny's face burned a color that was just a tad lighter than her flaming hair. She doubled her efforts in getting around Harry towards Malfoy, completely forgetting about the wand in her hand. All the while Hermione was watching Draco. But her face was oddly curious. As if she was thinking about something.

Draco was laughing loudly and had turned away when Hermione's voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"You don't need to worry about what he says Harry, he's just putting off his frustration because he's the one that's bad in bed."

Ginny and Harry stopped moving and looked at Hermione. Harry was giving her the 'what the hell are you doing?' look. Ginny, on the other hand, was finding it very hard to stop from laughing and her gaze was flicking from Hermione to the frozen Malfoy.

"If you don't believe me, you can ask Daphne Greengrass. I heard her talking about how awful he is while in the loo." Hermione smirked. "And plus," She too flicked her wand so that her bag came back up, full again, to rest on her shoulder. "He can't get off even if he had the world's horniest _slut_ on his lap."

The talk from the Great Hall could be heard from where the four were standing in the silence that followed Hermione's words. Malfoy and Ginny were shaking but for completely different reasons. Ginny had her fist in her mouth, trying not to make a sound. Harry was trying to keep a straight face but his lips kept twitching. But when Malfoy's grip on his wand tightened, Harry and Ginny aimed their wands at his back.

Malfoy slowly turned to face Hermione, taking no more notice of the other two as if they were part of the tapestry behind them. Still, Hermione's face remained calm and a little amused.

"What's the matter Draco? Didn't want your little secret to get out?" And she proceeded to smirk a Malfoy's trademark smirk: full of disdain and dark humor.

They could hear it, the snap of his patience. He and Hermione raised their wand just as Professor McGonagall, late to breakfast, came walking around the corner.

"Mr. Malfoy! Miss Granger!" Rang out her voice. "Lower your wands! What do you think you are doing?! You are both prefects!"

"Just telling him the awful truth Professor McGonagall." Hermione replied.

Professor McGonagall looked at her sharply. Hermione was acting very oddly. Harry was looking at her too and was surprised to find that her eyes were slightly wet and her hand was shaking. Malfoy's face was tinged a faint pink color, his eyes narrowed in absolute hatred. Neither lowered their wands.

Professor McGonagall noticed and started to get angry. "Both of you lower your wands immediately! There, now was that so hard?"

By the look on Draco's face, it seemed to be. They had both lowered their wands unwillingly and very slowly.

"Both of you will serve a month of detention for dueling in the school corridors." Hermione's gaze left Draco's narrowed one to glance at McGonagall for a second then returned to glaring full force at the blonde haired boy before her. "I will speak with Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore about your punishments. In the mean time, fifty points from both of your houses. The first day back hasn't even started and you lost points for your houses already."

Hermione looked slightly ashamed and finally looked away from Malfoy to stare at her shoes.

McGonagall then turned to Harry and Ginny. "Make sure that this doesn't happen today again you two." Harry and Ginny nodded, stone faced. "Now go on. You all have classes to go to soon." And watched as Draco turned on his heel and headed for the Great Hall, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny a safe distance behind him. After a few seconds, Professor McGonagall followed too.

When they entered the Great Hall at last, Malfoy was already seated at the Slytherin table, deep in discussion with Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson. He glared at the three as they passed by, especially Hermione.

When they sat down at the Gryffindor table on the other side of Ron, Lavender, and Parvati, Harry flew into an interrogation.

"What the hell do you think you were playing at?" He nearly yelled.

"Harry, tone it down!" Ginny advised. And she shot a glance at the Head Table where McGonagall was already talking to Dumbledore and Snape.

"Hey, what's going on?" Ron asked. Lavender and Parvati, who were discussing the best spell for curly hair, stopped talking to look curiously around at Harry who was fixing Hermione with a glare as she put a piece of French toast on her plate.

"Well?" Harry asked of her, completely ignoring Ron.

Hermione chewed for a bit but when she saw Harry's face she swallowed and put down her fork and knife.

"It's perfectly simple Harry." She said.

"What is perfectly simple about-" Ginny nudged him with her elbow and he shot a glance at Lavender and Parvati then continued in a lower voice. "What is so simple about attacking the ferret like that?"

Ron's eyes widened as the pieces of the puzzle fell together in his mind. "You did what?!" He hissed.

Hermione glared at him and stabbed the bread before her.

"He had it coming to him." She said moodily.

"Well of course he had it coming Hermione, but what you did back there was not you at all! It was like you were being possessed!" Harry exclaimed.

Hermione flinched. "I don't know what happened Harry. I just-I can't-" She sighed and when she looked up, she looked close to tears again. "I just couldn't take his crap anymore. I don't know, that dream just…." And a single tear fell.

Harry immediately calmed down and wrapped her in a hug.

"I'm sorry Hermione. I know how cruel he is to you."

She nodded against his shoulder and gave him a quick squeeze before pulling away with a soft smile. "Thanks, but if you do that, people will think you're a womanizer for going out with Ginny _and_ me." And she laughed at the look on Harry and Ron's face.

After a few minutes of idle chatter, McGonagall handed out their schedules for the week, giving Harry and Hermione stern looks.

Harry looked down at his schedule first and nearly choked on his pumpkin juice. Hermione and Ginny gave him a few hearty slaps on the back.

Still coughing, Harry pointed to the first class on Hermione's schedule. She turned pale.

"Shit…." She mumbled under her breath.

"What's wrong with Potions?" Lavender asked innocently, not getting why Hermione and Harry had such a horrible reaction. "We've had them with the Slytherins forever! I thought you'd be used to it by now?"

"It's just one of the Slytherins in particular, Lav," Ron said bracingly. "Just go on and I'll catch up." He gave her a winning smile, a peck on the lips, and she was gone.

The moment she was out of earshot, he rounded on Hermione.

"Don't go to class."

"But I have to! I can't miss the first lesson! This is our N.E.W.T. year." Hermione exclaimed.

"She's right Ron," Put in Ginny.

Hermione gave smug look.

"Besides," Ginny continued. She stood up and swung her bag over her shoulder and gave Harry a peck on the cheek. "If she doesn't show up in class, that'll mean Malfoy got to her and he'll know it." And she fast walked out of the Great Hall.

Ron frowned after her.

"You know she's right Ron." Hermione said as they followed Ginny out of the Great Hall and headed down the familiar route to the dungeons.

"But Hermione, I know he'll do something. I just know it!" Ron's voice echoed strangely through the stone corridor around them as the eternal cold crept up on them and made all three shiver slightly.

"Shut up!" Harry said loudly. For they had just come up to the Potions doorway where the rest of the class was waiting. Malfoy sneered at them from front of the line of Slytherins.

Hermione sighed and spoke in a quieter voice. "Ron, if you feel so overprotective, be so with Lavender. I can take care of myself."

Ron opened his mouth to retaliate but just then the Potions doors were pushed open by Severus Snape and Ron closed his mouth and didn't say another word on the subject.

But as they all filed in, Hermione couldn't help but notice how Draco was looking at her as she passed him. It looked different than the usual pompous sneer but rather as if he was sizing her up.

Hermione shook her head and pushed him out of her mind and returned to the life of Hogwarts she had missed so much during the summer.

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**AN: So, like? Dislike? Please press that lil button down there and review, cause I would really like some feedback. Please and thank you! And I realize that this chapter pretty much sucks eggs, but, the next few chapter are sooooo much better, promise!**


	2. Chapter 2:Detentions and Winks

**Author's Note: Here you go! Chapter Two! Hope you guys like it!**

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Chapter 2: Detentions and Winks

A week passed without further incident between Hermione and Malfoy that wasn't out of the ordinary. It was Thursday the week after the almost-duel when Professor McGonagall finally told Hermione how she would serve her detention.

She had just sat down for breakfast with Harry and Ron when Professor McGonagall came swooping in from the High Table.

"Miss Granger, your detention for that unlikely behavior of yours the other week is to be with Professor Snape in the dungeons, doing whatever he sees fit." She paused and when she spoke again her voice was softer. "And, I'm afraid, Professor Dumbledore feels that sharing that detention with Mr. Malfoy is required."

Hermione, who had been listening with an accepting but shameful face, suddenly stiffened. Her eyes went wide in her apprehension. Ron's fork fell with a clatter onto the gold plate heaping with eggs and bacon.

"What?!" He exclaimed.

"Professor, please. Can't you talk to Dumbledore?" Harry asked. He placed his hand on Hermione's under the table and squeezed it and showed how much he cared for her when he didn't even blink when she applied the pressure ten-fold.

"I'm sorry Potter, but I already tried." Professor McGonagall said grimly. "I'm afraid that Professor Snape agrees with the Headmaster and, as you know, Professor Dumbledore's words should be followed." She placed a consoling hand on Hermione's shoulder. "I'm sorry my dear, I know how terrible he is to you." With an awkward pat, she walked away, leaving the three in dark moods.

Ron picked his fork up but didn't look like he could eat anything out of sympathy for Hermione and instead swirled egg around and around.

"Hermione?" Harry said quietly.

She didn't answer, and instead picked up her fork and forced herself to continue eating.

"Hermione, listen-" Harry began.

"I don't want to hear it Harry," Hermione's voice came out weak and feeble. This scared the two boys more than they would ever let on. "I know what you're going to say. And I can't go to Dumbledore himself. I need to do this. I have to be braver. The Sorting Hat put me in Gryffindor for a reason."

"We know that Hermione, but-"

"No Harry! You don't know!" Hermione exploded. "You don't know what its been like with you two as your best friends."

When they gave her odd looks, she continued in a voice that said it was obvious.

"Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One. The one who's going to vanquish the Dark Lord." When Harry opened his mouth, Hermione cut across and continued in a stronger voice. "Ron Weasley, the funny one, the amazing Keeper, the one with the most popular girls trying to get his attention," Ron flushed a deep red and mumbled under his breath. "You both are brilliant in your own way! And then comes along me."

She took a deep breath and continued in a subdued voice. "Hermione Granger, the bookworm, the teacher's pet, the ugly one, the nerd, the…." She paused and her breath hitched. "The Mudblood."

Harry and Ron had watched in suppressed silence as their dearest friend put herself down and rose them up. But at the end, they both went into full blown accusations and contradictions. Cutting across the other's words in a jumble of confusion.

"Mione, you could never be ugly! You're-"

"It's good that you're a bookworm! Without your brain we'd-"

"And just because every teacher but Snape thinks your amazing doesn't mean-"

"Alright! Alright!" Hermione's voice cut between them easily.

Ron and Harry blinked, both mouths open. They grinned at each other and turned to Hermione expectantly.

"Ok, I get it. I was just having my, well, insecurity moments." She smiled at the them, thanking whatever God was up there that she had met them and that they were her friends.

She thought back to when they first met and how they had become friends and all that had happened over the years. It felt like so long ago when Hermione had first walked in on them on the Hogwarts Express, asking if they had seen Neville's toad. Hell, if Trevor hadn't wanted to escape so badly, she might never have truly introduced herself. Whatever made that toad want to run from Neville, it must have been something amazing.

As the three meandered their way to their first class, Hermione thought back to that faithful day on the Hogwarts Express. On that day, Harry and Ron weren't the only ones she got to know.

Before first opening her best friends' compartment door, she had opened another one. One that she deeply wished she hadn't.

_**Flashback**_

_Hermione was eleven and on a train headed somewhere that her wildest dreams couldn't have even imagined to be real. The corridor was empty except for a boy who looked about her age. He was opening a door to another compartment. Hermione slowed down, for his face looked quite distraught and she wanted to overhear what was troubling him._

"_Please, have you seen a toad anywhere?" The poor boy asked the compartment full of older students. All of them shook their head no. The boy closed the door dejectedly and started to walk away._

"_Hey! Did you say you were looking for a toad?" Hermione asked nicely._

_The boy turned, his face uplifted._

"_Have you seen one?" The hope in his voice made her wish that she hadn't said anything. For she knew that the boy thought that she had found the lost toad._

"_No, I'm sorry." Her voice was soft and she nearly flinched when his face fell. The blue eyes nearly filled with tears._

"_Oh." And he turned around again._

"_Wait!" She reached out and made him face her, Hermione was quite impressed herself at her own daring. But she shoved it aside and went on with what her idea._

"_I want to help you find it." She said breathlessly._

"_Really? You'd do that?" The boy seemed completely amazed at this point. She could see in his eyes the honesty and trustworthiness that shone as bright as the sun._

"_Of course! Why wouldn't I? Now come on, there are a lot of compartments to get to and I don't know how long the train ride is, though in _Hogwarts, A History_, it seems like its pretty far out from society so Muggles can't just wonder across it by accident."_

_And they went from compartment to compartment. And it was exactly 10 compartments before Harry and Ron's where she first met Draco Malfoy._

_She had opened a door for what felt like the hundredth time today and found herself standing in front of a very handsome boy with platinum hair and blue-grey eyes that looked like solidified rays of moonlight. His pale, pointed face looked up in curiosity to see who had entered this little room. Hermione's chocolate brown met moonlit blue and she fought down the blush that wanted to rise up her neck to her face. He opened his pale pink lips and she heard his sneering voice for the first time._

"_Who's the Buck-Tooth?" The other people around him laughed heartily._

_Hermione really did blush this time. There were two boys on either side of the handsomely rude boy, each thick set and had a rather gorilla look about them. There was another boy across from them with dark skin and eyes and who seemed rather bored with life. Then there were the three girls who were shrieking in laughter. And Hermione knew immediately that these girls were the kind that thought only of themselves and would sell out their best friend if it meant they could become a princess only by the death of someone close to them._

_One of the girls was like the two gorilla boys, rather big and not very good looking. She had an ugly cat sprawled across her large lap. The girl sitting on the right was by far the prettiest there. She had gold hair that fell in ringlets down her shoulders and pretty blue eyes and perfect bone structure. The one in the middle, though she wasn't as beautiful as the one before her, looked smarter and more cunning then the beauty. She had straight black hair that fell an inch or two above her shoulders and cold, calculating grey eyes._

_Later, Hermione would know all of them as Draco Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, Blaise Zabini, Millicent Blustrode, Daphne Greengrass, and Pansy Parkinson. The worst Slytherins in her year. But, at the moment, she didn't know this. She didn't know that she would be tormented by all in this compartment till she couldn't think straight, she didn't know that she would one day come to think of the beautiful one as something like scum._

"_I'm Hermione Granger and I was wondering if any of you had seen a toad?" She said calmly._

_The girls started laughing louder._

"_A toad?! Who owns a toad anymore? They went out of fashion centuries ago!" Said the beautiful girl between laughter._

"_It's not mine, if you must know. I'm just trying to help someone." Hermione shot back._

_The beautiful girl gasped. Shocked that anyone would speak that way to her._

_The dark boy snorted. "I like this one, she can stand her own."_

"_Oh, shut up Blaise!" Beauty, as Hermione was now calling her because she didn't yet know the girl's name, said._

_Blaise just shrugged. "Whatever." And he went back to gazing up at the ceiling._

"_You said your last name was Granger?" The handsome boy asked._

_Hermione gulped. "Yes."_

_The black haired girl narrowed her eyes at Hermione, her gaze flicking from the blonde boy to Hermione's face._

"_Are you, by chance, related to the famous potion maker, Hector Dagworth-Granger?" The boy asked primly._

_Hermione blinked. "Ugh, no. Sorry. I'm Mugglebor-"_

"_I knew it!" Shrieked the black haired girl. "She's one of them. I could tell the moment she walked in! Her smell reeked of those horrid things Muggles use to get to places." The girls face was simply triumphant._

_Hermione's mind immediately thought of cars but then what the girl actually said seemed to click in her brain._

'They don't like Muggleborns.' _She thought, dismayed. She looked to the handsome boy and felt her heart sink._

_His face had transformed. His nose was scrunched up in dismay and as if the smell of rotten eggs was in the air. And he pointedly looked away from her. The boys on either side of him flexed their muscles. Blaise's head had snapped toward her in what looked like the most intensity he's ever used. His small respect for her gone like the stars during the day. All three girls were looking disgusted and oddly happy, as if seeing someone subjected to humiliation like this was something like a favorite pastime of theirs._

"_As you can see, _darling_," The black haired girl emphasized the word 'darling' nastily to a snort from the large girl. Her grey eyes conveyed her absolute pleasure in seeing Hermione's downfall. "We don't want you here, so remove yourself from our presence."_

_Hermione's eyes stung and her chin threatened to tremble but she held on and simply walked out of the room that was roaring with the three girls' laughter. She got one last glance at the handsome boy to see that he was still looking away from the door. The little bit of his face she could see looked devoid of emotion._

_And that was the first time she had ever met Draco Malfoy._

_**End Flashback**_

Hermione snapped out of it when the Trio reached the doors to the Potions classroom. As usual, the Slytherins were on one side of the corridor with the Gryffindors on the other, each side throwing the other hated glares. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione stepped into the corridor, Draco, who had been talking to Blaise Zabini, looked up. He sneered at Harry and Ron as they moved closer to Hermione and tried to block her from his gaze. Hermione didn't pay attention. Her eyes slid right past him to Blaise who was giving her an amused look. Then he did something she would never have expected. He winked at her.

Hermione did a double take.

Yep, her eyes weren't deceiving her. Blaze Zabini, one of the few guys girls in every year drooled over, Slytherin, and best friend to Draco Malfoy, hater of Mudbloods, had just winked at her. She could tell by the smirk the crossed his dark lips and let her catch a glimpse of pearly white teeth. His cinnamon colored eyes sparkled with barely suppressed laughter.

Hermione held his gaze for another ten seconds then dropped her eyes to the floor, completely missing when Blaise nudged Draco giving him the thumbs up and when Draco smirked triumphantly.

Hermione was rolling the unexpected wink from Blaise over and over in her head. Trying to figure out what he was planning. When Snape opened the doors and bid them all into his revered potions classroom, Blaise brushed against her as he walked past her to his seat near the front.

Her hands started to shake. She knew something bad was going through that Slytherin's head. She just didn't know what but she was going to find out.

Little did she know, that was exactly the dark boys plan. He and Draco had been waiting for the perfect opportunity and it had come at breakfast when Professor Snape had told Draco when his detention was being held. Now, he just had to wait for his plan to unfold and then she wouldn't know what hit her.

"All right, quiet!" Snape snapped at the class when there had only been two conversations being held, everyone knowing better then to talk before they started on the potions they were to be working on. "Today, those of us who can, will be brewing a complicated and very, very dangerous potion." He flicked his wand at the board and the instructions appeared in his slanted writing. "Can anyone guess at what we will be _trying_ to make?"

Hermione's eyes grazed down the instructions lightning fast and her hand was, of course, the first in the air. And to everyone's surprise, Ron also raised his hand. Along with half of the girls and even Draco and Blaise.

Snape blinked in surprise. There was never this many hands raised in his class. For one, they were all a bunch of idiots with no brains and second, because they all seemed under the impression that if their hand so much as twitched upwards, he would bite them off. But with so many hands, he'd have to pick on someone.

He didn't even look at Hermione but instead smirked down at Harry who was squinting at the board. Hermione gave him a sympathetic look, knowing that he had always had trouble reading Snape's fancy writing.

"Mr. Potter, can your simple mind tell me what you'll be failing to make in my class today?" Snape gloated. The Slytherins laughed.

Harry glared at him from behind his glasses but didn't rise to Snape's open insults. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose and looked again at the board.

"Any day would be nice Mr. Potter-"

"A love potion, sir."

Snape glared at him. "Five points from Gryffindor for interrupting me, Mr. Potter. I suggest you refrain from doing so again." Snape gave him one last sneer then whirled around and barked at them all to get started then sat down at his desk and started scribbling on some tests.

Harry muttered some colorful words under his breath and went to collect the ingredients needed.

"Ron, how did you know it was a love potion?" Hermione asked.

The red head shrugged but kept his mouth shut.

Hermione frowned. "Ron? Are you feeling alright?"

He sighed. "Yeah. Just, tired, ya know?"

A small smile touched her lips. "No, not really. Care to explain?"

"Its just, I don't-"

But what he had been about to say was cut off when he looked over Hermione shoulder. His face immediately closed up and he turned back to trying to get fire under his cauldron. Hermione turned her head.

But all she saw was Lavender and Parvati which seemed odd cause last time she checked, Ron and Lavender didn't seem to be in a fight. Then Lavender did something that made her jaw drop. Lavender smiled flirtatiously at Blaise Zabini.

Hermione gapped like a fish. She had known Lavender ever since she came to Hogwarts and not once had the girl mentioned any feelings at all for anyone but Ron to her. But she could see it clear as day. Lavender Brown was hooked on Blaise.

For the rest of the class, Ron only spoke a few sentences and only to Harry. She had just added the last ingredient to her love potion when it happened. The potion turned from the soft pink it had originally been and turned into the color of the ocean drenched in moonlight. Blue-silver. Just like Malfoy's eyes. Hermione gasped. She looked in the book and what she saw nearly made her faint.

_After adding the smashed fragments of a pink ruby, the potion_

_Should turn the color of the eyes that thy was made for._

_Therefore making it impossible for anyone but thy Maker's true_

_Holder of Heart to realize thou's love_

A bit old fashioned but the meaning was all too clear for Hermione. What it meant was obviously that, when completed correctly, the potion would change its color to match that of the maker's true love's eye color.

'_Oh shit. Not good. Not good at all!' _Hermione looked up and met Draco's eyes which looked at her in curiosity which changed to dread as Hermione's vision dimmed and she fell into a pit of darkness which swallowed her up greedily.

**AN: Yay!! Another chapter done!! Hope you like it! If that lil thing from the book didn't make much sense to you, I'll try to explain. Tell me what you think please!!**


	3. Chapter 3:Floating and Waking

**AN: Here ya go!! Chap three!! Yay! P.S., the song is called Dark Waltz by Hayley Westenra. You should listen to it.**

Chapter Three: Floating and Waking

Hermione was floating…just floating in midair. The clouds going from fluffy white to the deep orange-pink of sunset then the gold streaked purple color of the sunrise in a blink of the eye. The sky was the same deep shade of blue with stars and constellations sprinkled across it, as if a child had been playing with sparkles and had accidentally dropped the container on his mother's blue blanket.

'_How pleasant.' _She thought dreamily. She closed her chocolate eyes sleepily. And began humming a song her mom used to sing to her every night when she was very young. Soon, the humming progressed to words, then words to singing.

_We are the lucky onesWe shine like a thousand sunsWhen all of the color runs togetherI'll keep you companyIn one glorious harmonyWaltzing with destiny foreverDance me into the nightUnderneath the full moon shining so brightTurning me into the lightTime dancers whirling pastI gaze through the looking glassAnd feel just beyond my grasp is heavenSacred-_

She stopped. Something was wrong. She opened her eyes. The beautiful clouds were gone and instead were dark and angry looking. A storm was brewing. No, it was already here, wherever here maybe. And then she was falling.

'_No. No! Stop! No!' _She didn't know why but she knew this was bad. This shouldn't be happening. Something was pulling her back to her body. Wait…was she dead? Was she just having a nightmare? What was going on?!

The feeling of peace was long gone. Terror was taking over. She heard a strange flapping noise, a bit like wings. But that was impossible, she was supposed to be alone….

Hermione then saw something, a little light, steadily growing bigger. It was oddly colored. Later on, she'd never be able to remember exactly what color it was. It might have been gold, or blue, or even green for all she knew. Then with a slam she fell back to the world and was once again engulfed in darkness.

………

Hermione's body felt heavy and irregular, like it wasn't her body. She couldn't move and even if she could, she was afraid it might not be her body after all and she'd be sucked again into that chasm of light. And that hadn't felt very welcoming at all.

Then she heard the voices. It was if they were coming from a long tunnel.

"…she just fell. She looked up from brewing her potion and fell." Came a strangely familiar voice. It sounded very sad. But that wasn't right. This voice didn't usually sound like this…but she couldn't place just why this was.

Another familiar voice spoke, this one sounded old and gentle with just the right amount love that it sounded like her grandfather who had died so many years ago.

"I see." There came a great gust of air, like a sigh. "I wonder what could have caused such fear in that girl. She's one of the bravest young ladies there is."

A silence in which was filled with a faint _tick-tock_. A little chime went off.

"I believe its past your curfew, Draco. You should get back to your dormitory." The old voice said after the chiming had subsided.

"Yes sir." Footsteps and the sound of a large door opening. A pause. "Sir, will…will you tell her I came?"

A smaller silence. "No, I think not. And even if she was awake to hear you, she won't remember it. Now run along. I doubt Professor McGonagall will accept you being with Miss Granger here a possibility."

There wasn't a reply, just the sound of a large door closing.

Another noise that sounded like a sigh.

"Oh, Miss Granger. Why must you run from love? Sleep for now, child."

And she fell again into darkness. But this time, it was welcoming and warm.

_**(Time skip. Skip skip, skip alla rue. Skip skip, to my lady Sue. Fun!)**_

When Hermione awoke, her body hurt everywhere. Literally, everywhere. Every muscle felt like they'd just gone through a major workout, her bones felt like they'd been grinded down into dust and then been reformed, her skin felt as if it she had sat too close to a fire and it was being stretched to its limits against her bones. Even the ends of her hair seemed to hurt.

She groaned. Ugh, the pain was in her voice too.

She slowly opened her eyes. A shaft of light immediately hit her like a spear from the heavens. She glared at it.

'_Damn it all to hell. Ugh. Where am I?' _She thought in irritation.

She sat up painfully and slowly. She appeared to be in the Hospital Wing.

"Aw. Miss Granger. Glad to know your back and well."

Hermione turned and immediately flinched, that had hurt her neck and back moving so fast.

Professor Dumbledore smiled sympathetically. "I'm afraid you'll be here a while, my dear. Something happened in that potions room and, I believe I'm right in saying this, but you were taken somewhere, weren't you?" He asked gently.

Hermione frowned. "I don't really know what happened, one moment I'm looking at…looking at…." Her eyes widened. She remembered now. Her potion! It had turned into the color of Dra-Malfoy's eyes. But it couldn't be. He couldn't possibly be her 'Heart's Holder' as that damned book had said. This couldn't be happening. They were supposed to be mortal enemies for God's sake!

"Hermione." Dumbledore's voice came out weary and sad and, dare she think it, disappointed. "I have told you and many others that love is the greatest magic there is."

She squeezed her eyes shut and put her hands to her ears, knowing this was rude but she just didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to hear love and Draco in the same sentence when it involved her. Wait, did she just think Draco? Oh hell no!

"No! I don't want this! Please! I don't want to hear this!" She pleaded. "I'm supposed to fall in love with someone I've known for a long time and have been great friends with. Not someone who enjoys seeing me in pain or, if it ever came to it, tears! I've heard about relationships like these. Where the girl thinks her new boyfriend is just overtly protective and instead he's just some psycho freak bent on having total ownership over someone else. And the girl thinks he loves her while beating her to a pulp! I won't fall victim to men like that!" A tear escaped from one of her eyes but she just brushed it away.

Her bed groaned in protest when Dumbledore sat down next to her.

"My dear, I would never insist on a love based on violence." Hermione tried to butt in again but he merely raised a hand and she quieted. "Please, my dear, I'm not finished. Now, will you please listen to what I have to say first and then make up one of your brilliant comments and accusations?" He looked down at her from over his half-moon spectacles kindly and she immediately felt ashamed for having yelled at him like that. She nodded.

He smiled gently. "Thank you. Now, Miss Granger, might I ask as to why you fainted so terribly in the first place?"

Hermione swallowed. She really had hoped that he wouldn't ask that question. But she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. She cleared her throat and began.

"Well, we were told to brew the potion famous for finding the…the, um, 'Heart's Holder' as the book so bluntly suggests. And I of course was doing it perfectly," Dumbledore's smile grew at that. "Just as I added the last ingredient, the potion changed color. It-it changed into a deep, smoky grey with light blue. Like a mixture of a sunny sky and a stormy sky. And I looked up and the same exact color was looking back at me. And I-I knew what it m-meant but I don't want it to. I guess I started hyperventilating or something because the next thing I know, I'm laying here. I think." Tears were coursing unchecked down her cheeks. She had never asked for this. Why did it have to be her?

Dumbledore's eyes were thoughtful as he gazed at the young woman before him. It was obvious that she wanted to find her true love but not in Mr. Malfoy. What he wanted to know was why Draco had felt obligated in coming to see her at all. He saw movement in the corner of his eye and a slight shuffle. He suddenly stood up, surprising Hermione as she jumped then winced.

"I'm sorry Miss Granger but I do believe that getting you a pain reducing-potion would be best for you at the moment. I'll just go and find Madam Pomphrey. I'll leave you for just a moment." He waited for her consent the strode out the Hospital Wing doors.

Hermione buried her face in her arms the moment he turned away so she didn't see Harry and Ron pull of the Invisibility Cloak and walk up to her until she felt a hand rest gently on her shoulder.

She looked up into Harry's concerned face and tears gushed out ever harder and she was soon leaning against him as Ron came up from behind and embraced her. They stayed like that until Hermione regained herself and straightened up. She looked at her two best friends in the world and felt like the luckiest girl.

"So-so you heard everything I'm guessing?" She asked shakily. They nodded and were about to speak before she placed her face in her hands dejectedly. "I'm so sorry. I never ever thought that Malfoy would be…the one. I always thought it might be Dean or something. Someone we all got along with really well. I'm so sorry!"

Ron looked at Harry over her head in astonishment. Harry, knowing exactly how Ron felt, jumped in to save their friend from a life of never-ending crying.

"Hermione. Hermione, listen." Her sobbing stopped momentarily but she hiccupped and continued to sniffle. "Me and Ron don't care who you fall for, just as long as he's good to you and returns your love unconditionally."

"But this is Malfoy we're talking about!" She cried.

"Well, yeah, but, after you fainted, he was all pale and shaky and stuff." Ron put in. He rubbed her back in soothing circles.

"Exactly. And even though we hate his attitude-"

"The dim-witted, cheeky little ferret he is."

"We still know that these things happen." Harry said. "Heck, look at Ginny and me. Remember how last year you completely understood and even egged us on? And how confused I was on either staying friends with Ron or asking Ginny out? Well, I'm here to do the same for you. We know that he's a-"

"Sick, twisted little fuck with a ferret face."

"Yes, thank you Ron." Hermione giggled. Harry smiled despite himself and Ron just grinned like the name-calling idiot he was. "The point is, we'll make sure that if you do decide to go for him, we'll help you out, okay?"

Hermione looked up at the two of them in amazement. "Really? Truly? You would actually agree to seeing me holding hands and kissing Draco Malfoy all around school?"

Both of the boys cringed at the thought.

"We wouldn't exactly like it but if its what makes you happy…of course." Said Ron.

Hermione smiled at them sweetly and held her arms open, and thinking that the storm had passed, the boys happily entered them. Only to have her squeeze both of their necks till they were almost blue in the face.

"You guys are the worst liars I think I've ever seen. And I thought better of you two. Jesus! What did you two think I was going to do?! Fall in love with that ferret-faced piece of shit just because a damned potion said so?! I don't think so! So you guys get back to your classes before I personally kick you out!" She let them go and they staggered backward, grinning.

"It was worth a shot" Ron commented.

"Out!!"

They both grinned at her one last time before picking up the Invisibility Cloak, wrapping it around themselves and disappearing from view.

Hermione leaned back against her pillows cautiously, that had hurt trying to get her muscles to squeeze them like that. She sighed then giggled. Well, they deserved it.

She giggled once more before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

When she next awoke, the sun was setting, painting the purple clouds orange and pink. She looked over at her bedside table and saw a bottle of some blue liquid with a note beside it. She picked it up, recognizing the slanting writing that Harry had received only last year.

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_I am terribly sorry for not getting back to you as soon as I had promised. But I come across a rather appetizing scent from the kitchens and could not contain myself. I do hope that you had not suffered any terribly pain and that you had enjoyed Mr. Potter's and Mr. Weasley's company. This potion shall help relieve your pain and is laced with a sleeping draught so you may have sweet dreams while the potion does its job. For the last time I had that particular potion, it felt like little bugs were crawling around my skin even though it did sooth the pain away, I was thinking you would prefer not to feel like that. Enjoy your rest, my dear._

_Yours truly,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

Hermione shook her head in amazement. That man was a very strange man indeed. She placed the note back on the little table but did not take the potion. Her body was still sore, yes, but it didn't so bad as before.

Hermione pushed the covers off of her and slowly lowered her legs to the floor. She found that she was dressed in a nightgown common to those who stay at the Hospital Wing overnight and wasn't surprised. But she was surprised when a voice spoke up from the shadows cast by the setting sun.

"I wouldn't get up if I were you Granger."

She gasped. What was he doing here?

"Believe me when I say I don't want to be here either." Came his sneering voice. He walked closer, just enough so that half of his face was still in shadow. But the half that wasn't looked oddly tired and drawn but was carefully hidden by his trademark smirk. "Snape just asked me to be the one to give you your damn homework."

Hermione groaned. She had completely forgotten about her homework. It had been early in the day when she had fainted so she hadn't gotten to any of her other classes. Drat.

"How long have I been here?" She asked tiredly.

Draco's face darkened. "Three days."

"What?! I can't possibly have been out for three days! Oh, no." Hermione cried indignantly. She pouted.

"Tell me about it. I had to go to every single one of your bloody classes to get your homework." When she gave him a confused look, he sighed and explained. "McGonagall says its just common curtsey. I say she's just punishing me for what happened first day back." He glared at her as if it was her fault.

"Don't blame me you prat! You're the one with the damned attitude!" Hermione accosted. She folded her arms tightly against her chest, unknowingly giving Malfoy a view of the top of her breasts. A pink tinge spread across his cheeks as he looked away.

"Well, are you going to give me my homework or not?" Heat searing her words, hoping it'll burn him to a crisp so she can dance upon his ashes.

He threw her bulging bag onto her bed where it bumped into her thigh, making her flinch. He hesitated and wondered not for the hundredth time what had happened to make her body hurt like that when all she had physically done was faint and fall. Draco watched her as she grumbled to herself and glared at the potion.

"You should drink that you know." He said out of no where, surprising both Hermione and himself.

She looked at him quizzically then nodded, surprising them both again.

Draco turned to leave when her voice stopped him in his tracks just as he was about to open the doors, his hand on the handle.

"Thank you."

He breathed in deeply through his nose and slowly turned his head to look at her over his shoulder. She was looking down at her knees in embarrassment, her cheeks a dull rosy color. He took his time examining her. Her usually bushy hair was even more unkempt and dirty after three days without a shower, the nightgown hung from her shoulders, much too big for her, her eyes were red and puffy from obvious crying and her body was shaking with the strain of just sitting up. But she still looked like a lioness, just waiting for the right moment to tear his head off if he so much as insulted her. And he realized that even though she was shaking like a leaf and in obvious pain, she still managed to make him feel of a lower standard. This was the reason why he had put her down so much over the years. Because just by looking at him with her big chocolate eyes, she managed to make him feel that his name was of no importance, that just because he was a Pureblood didn't mean he got special attention. She was the enigma of his life. Always making him feel like everyone else and making him step off his high pedestal so that she could stand there and look like the queen she unknowingly carried herself as.

"No problem." And he walked out.

Hermione was stunned. While looking down at her knees, she had watched him out of the corner of her eyes and couldn't stop herself from blushing. The setting sun had cast a deep red glow onto his features, making the contours of his face stand out. His pointed chin, his long straight nose, his regal brow, and his stormy eyes all screamed handsome at her. Even if those same features told of harshness and ice. She had known from the beginning that he was going to be one of those people who put others down and built themselves up because of those horrid actions. But what she hadn't seen coming was how much he would like a god doing it. In class, he was the only one who could hold his own against her brains, not including Harry in DADA. But he was also the one that made walking the halls a thing she wished to avoid. His sneering and teasing had just gotten worse over the years and even though the crying had long ago stopped, it still didn't hurt every time he called her Mudblood.

And now he had gone and said something like that. Something she hadn't seen coming. Of course, she had expected him to scoff at her, call her Mudblood, tease her, or something cruel like that but not accept her thank you so kindly.

Normally Hermione could read people rather well but he had always been a mystery to her. While the Slytherin girls, and even some of the girls from the other houses swooned over him and sometimes called him loving (which was hard to believe in and of itself) she couldn't help but feel that it might be possible.

When the war against Voldemort had started, they had all thought that he was on the Dark Side but when the Dark Lord had cast Crucio on his mother, he had snapped. He had immediately gone to Harry and, begrudgingly, asked for forgiveness and a place in the Order, or at least on their side. After a few hours of interrogation led by herself, Moody, and Lupin, they had agreed that having him on their side would be an advantage. They had immediately evacuated him and his mother and they had lived at Number 12 Grimwald Place. It had taken a few months but they were finally trusted enough to go on missions against Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Their knowledge of known meeting places and plans had greatly helped them win the war but the Malfoys or anyone else for that matter could have done nothing when the time came for Harry to finally met Voldemort to decide the future of their world.

At the time of their great battle, Hermione had been fighting Lucius Malfoy. He had disarmed her and she had fallen to the ground. She had thought that this would be the end for her but Draco had arrived out of no where and had distracted his father long enough for Hermione to grab her wand and join him in taking down his father. In the end, Draco couldn't bring himself to kill Lucius and Hermione wasn't a killer, so they had instead Stunned him, tied him up thoroughly, taken away his wand, and given him over to Azkaban Prison. Hermione had thought that they would be on good terms but the moment the war ended, Harry being the victor, he had drawn into himself, closing all doors and windows to anyone who tried to get near that wasn't his mother or Blaise.

Hermione sighed. How she wished that she could just have a peak inside his head and see what went on behind his boarded up eyes.

Hermione looked at the potion again and finally poured herself a glassful and drank. She laid down against the soft mattress of her bed fell asleep almost instantly. But just before she did, she felt as if little critters were crawling along her skin, easing the pain away and she couldn't help but smile.

**AN: Yes!! I did it!! I finished Chp 3!! Yay!! And I hit 9 pages! Boo yah! In this one, I added a lot more details, so I hope you liked it!! Tell me what ya think please!**


	4. Chapter 4:Potions and Professors

**AN: Yay!! Chp 4!! And its Draco version time!! Woot woot!!**

Chapter 4: Potions and Professors

'_It's been a week since that bloody almost-duel with Granger. No detentions yet, that's good. But I haven't been able to get her back yet. Not good.' _Draco sighed. He was still in bed being the late riser he was and he couldn't help but think and think and think. With a hand held over his eyes to block out the sun and his green silk sheets just coming up to his abs with his finely toned upper body bare to the world, he looked like the perfect picture of sexy and relaxed. The sexy part was of course true but relaxed, he most definitely was not. He clenched his hand in irritation and slammed his fist down onto his bed and sat up.

''I will get her back. Someway, somehow.''

"Talking to yourself again, huh?" Draco jumped and looked towards his bedroom doors as his best friend chuckled under his breath.

"Now let me guess." Blaise said as he walked towards Draco's bed, his lips curling upwards and his hands making a steeple in front of his chest. "You're thinking about getting a girl back in your bed?"

Draco scoffed and relaxed back into his pillows as Blaise walked around the outside of his large four-poster bed with the green and silver drapes.

"Ok, maybe not, considering your 'amazing skills' in bed." Blaise scoffed himself and smirked when he saw Draco raise an eyebrow. "Sooo, we'll just say that you want some other girl. One who's never been in your bed, maybe never been in anyone's bed. But I thought you didn't go for virgins Mr. Malfoy? What's with the change of women?" Blaise laughed out loud at Draco's expression which was torn between disgust and anger.

"You dumbass! Thank you for your simply thrilling guesses but you are farther from the truth than you've ever been." Draco nearly yelled.

"Aw! But you're forgetting that time when-"

"Oh put a sock in it!" Draco cut him off. Blaise just smirked and asked what the problem was.

"The problem? I hope you feel stupid when I tell you this for it was there in plain sight. Quite hard to miss really. It has rather large teeth-" Draco began but he was soon cut off too.

"Oh I know this one! A beaver!" And he made an impression of the little animal.

"No dumbass. It's-"

"Fine, a squirrel then! Those things are rabid so I can see where your getting with this." Blaise ended thoughtfully.

"You daft son of a troll! Its Hermione bloody Mudblood Granger! Jesus! Crabbe and Goyle would have gotten it faster than you!" Draco exploded. He was panting with anger until he noticed Blaise leaning on one of the bed posts, shaking with laughter. Draco turned away and muttered obstinacies under his breath.

Blaise wiped tears from his eyes and hiccupped himself into quiet amusement.

When Draco was sure Blaise was done he spoke again. "Are you quite finished laughing your ass off at my expense?"

And Blaise answered his customary answer whenever something like this happened. "Not for a long time. I'll always be laughing at your expense. So, what do you want to do to get our favorite Mudblood back in her place?"

Draco smiled. This was something he liked about Blaise. Even after making jokes, he always got right down to business and always knew what Draco wanted or needed to do and helped him do it. Blaise was a practical man who liked to have fun. Draco knew that if he ever wanted to settle down and have a family, he'd be the perfect man to do it. While, himself on the other hand, Draco knew that no woman would last more than a week, a month if they amused him nicely and that he'd only marry and have kids when he was getting on in age and his duty to carry out the Malfoy name came up and bit him in the ass. He knew that he would not love his wife, that he would most likely barely tolerate his son (for that's what he would have, no girls only a son) and he would do all he could to put what his father had put into him: a greed for power, a fear for those more powerful than oneself, and the brains to get a good job and follow said more powerful person. Yes, his family was one twisted up group of people but hey, that's what you get for intermingling family members trying to stay Purebloods.

"I'm not quite sure," he finally said. "I just know it has to be good. Something I'll remember for a long time. Maybe for her to remember too, I don't know, haven't really decided."

"Hmm…."Blaise thought for a few minutes then snapped his fingers. "We could-"

"Before you speak, nothing sexual, I don't want to soil myself with her filth."

Blaise's excitement faded off his face and he went back to thinking, occasionally saying things along the lines of 'You're no fun' and 'Then what the hell do you expect me to think of'.

Draco kept quiet until he looked at the clock and promptly threw a pillow in Blaise's direction.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me it was time for breakfast?!" He shouted.

"Oh yeah. Well, you see," Blaise said from behind the pillow as Draco threw the covers off his nude form and got dressed. "I did come here for that reason but then you spoke to yourself and I got carried away."

"No shit." Draco said dryly. "Next time, just say what you came for first, then you can laugh at my expense."

Blaise peeked over his pillow to see Draco buttoning his robes and deemed it safe to put the pillow back on the bed. "Are you giving me permission?" He asked hopefully.

Draco glared at him as he laced up his shoes. "Hell no."

"Well damn."

"Come on, we can think of something at breakfast. I'm sure inspiration will hit."

And sure enough it did. But only after the two of them gave themselves headaches over trying to think of what to do and when to do it. But what seemed like seconds after they had finished their breakfast, Professor Snape came up behind Draco and dropped a piece of parchment onto the table where just a second ago a plate had disappeared.

When Draco looked up at him curiously, Snape merely narrowed his eyes in disapproval. Draco mutely gulped and opened the piece of folded parchment and found the details of his detention. He looked back up at Snape who's face was still dark and this time, his gulp wasn't as silent as he would have hoped. Snape's lip curled. "Be sure you're there on time." And he was gone.

"Well," Blaise trailed off. "I think I've thought of a when to get back at your Miss Problem."

Draco looked from Blaise who was staring at the writing on the offending piece of paper to the piece of parchment itself then back to Blaise. A wand suddenly lit up in Malfoy's head and he smiled evilly.

"My dear Mr. Zabini, I think we're going to have some fun." He said slowly.

"Finally!" Blaise exclaimed loudly to curious looks of others around them as they exited the Great Hall and headed for Potions.

"We have to make plans though. And that'll take a while. The detention is," Draco looked at the parchment again. "Saturday. That gives us only five days to perfect a plan. After we make one of course." He sighed. He was never very good at making plans and seeing them through.

Blaise nodded solemnly. "I think…."

"What? You actually thinking. That's a start." Draco said smugly.

Blaise punched his arm and Draco feigned hurt, making them both laugh.

"I think we should get her interested in what we might or might not be thinking of doing." Blaise said finally. He looked at Draco for approval of his brilliant plan only to find Draco looking confused. "What I mean is, we should get her curious, like, I don't know, send her little looks, brush against her but nothing else. Act as, well, nice as possible I guess. And then she will confront us herself and demand to know what the hell we're doing. Good, no?"

Draco nodded thoughtfully. It would be just like her to go after them, trying to figure out what they were up to. She probably wouldn't even tell Scarhead and the Weasel about her thoughts. Yes, this seemed like a very good plan indeed.

Draco clapped his best friend on the back, nearly sending him face first into a pair of Slytherins walking ahead of them. Blaise glared at him as he walked by and smirked.

"Good job Blaise. You might just be smarter than you look." He sneered.

Blaise ruffled his black hair with his hand and his cinnamon eyes twinkled like jewels. "Now what's that about my amazing looks?" And he winked at a passing sixth year Slytherin on her way to the common room who giggled and ran to catch up to her friends to tell them Blaise Zabini had winked at her. Said boy chuckled. "Girls are so easy so manipulate."

Draco shook his blonde head. "Come on, Potions awaits."

Blaise pouted and looked back at the girls. "So pretty and tempting…"

"Come on lover boy." And he proceeded to grab the neck of Blaise's robes and drag him to the entryway of the Potions corridor. He let go of him just as they entered and they both headed towards the pack of Slytherins as they waited for Snape to open the doors. Draco inconspicuously glanced towards the Gryffindor section of their class and was disappointed in not finding the Trio there yet. Especially _her_.

"Oi, you might not want to be looking over there, Pansy will think you're looking for some other girl." Blaise nodded his head slightly to their left to indicate Pansy shooting them both looks. Draco nodded. "How have things been between you two anyway?" The dark boy asked.

"Not very good as of late. She found out about my little rendezvous over the summer with that girl from France." He said darkly.

Blaise smirked. "That's what you get, _lover boy_." He threw Draco's own words back at him.

Draco scoffed. "There's nothing _loving_ about it."

"You know, you should really start looking for an actual girlfriend. Someone who's not just looking for a romp in your bed like Daphne," Said blonde haired girl was currently latched onto some other Slytherin guy. "Someone who matches your intellect, which I've heard about but never really seen," Draco's blue grey eyes stared him down till he relented. "Fine, fine, but you should still get someone smart and beautiful but isn't clingy like Pansy over there."

"Yeah, and where am I going to find a girl like that?" He asked sardonically.

"Well you could look-hey, there's Granger." Blaise ended in a whisper.

Draco's head snapped up and around. He caught only a quick glance of the girl before her best friends (_'More like bodyguards,' _he thought.) closed in around her, cutting her off from his cold gaze. He sneered at them. They always seemed to be protecting her. He would have to modify his final plans to make sure they were out of the way, if only temporarily.

While Draco glared at the two Gryffindor boys, Blaise caught Hermione's eye and winked at her. Her face turned from curiosity to surprise and fright. She looked down after a while of seeming to search his face and Blaise nudged his best friend and Draco knew this little plan of theirs just might work after all.

At that time, Snape opened the Potions classroom doors and they all filed in, Draco going in after Blaise and watching him brush past Hermione on his way to their usual table near the front. He looked back at her and saw her hands shaking, not knowing if it was from fear or anger. Probably anger. It took a lot to scare a Gryffindor if it wasn't named Neville Longbottom at least.

Soon, Draco was hard at work trying to make the love potion Snape had presented to his class. At the moment, he was hovering over Longbottom's horrible excuse for a potion while Hermione, seated not so far away was staring at her potion book in fright and disbelief. Draco looked at her curiously. He glanced at her potion and saw his own eye color staring back at him. It dawned on him then and he watched in dread as she looked up at him with the same expression as him except ten times worse and then….she just started to fall.

He was by her side in a moment and caught her as she fell towards the floor. Knocking her cauldron to the ground in the process. The room became still. Draco looked down at her face which was scrunched in pain but she didn't seem to be close to waking up. He looked up at Potter and Weasley who were looking at him in shock and mounting suspicion and anger. Snape came up to them with the whole class looking on in bewilderment. Blaise was pale beneath his black skin and Draco knew that he had seen the potion before it had fallen and soaked into the stone of the classroom.

"What is the meaning of this Mr. Malfoy?" Snape asked coldly. His black eyes glittering menacingly.

Draco frowned. He didn't know what to say. He looked to Blaise hoping he'd have an explanation. Thankfully the dark boy stepped up to plate brilliantly. Literally.

Blaise walked over. "Draco was just going to get more ingredients, sir. And Granger fainted and he caught her. Ugh, sir." He finished lamely. But Draco didn't care, he lied amazingly. He just hoped Snape wouldn't feel obligated to use Ligilmency to find the truth. After a few seconds of Snape looking over Blaise, he turned back to Draco and he inwardly sighed in relief, it didn't seem as if Snape had read into Blaise's mind.

"Take Miss Granger to the Hospital Wing Mr. Malfoy." Snape said silkily.

A protest was on his lips Weasley beat him to it.

"He's not going to take her anywhere!" The red head yelled.

Snape glared at him, his pale lips drawing together.

Harry interjected before Ron could say anything else, stepping on his foot in the process.

"Please sit, let me or Ron take her. We're her friends and we we'll come right back." Harry said softly.

The whole class was gazing in wonderment at the scene in front of them. Blaise was standing behind Snape who was glaring at the two Gryffindor boys who were fighting to get their best friend out of the ferret's hands. It was quite the show for the previously bored students who were hoping for something to happen this year since the Dark Lord had been vanquished. They seemed to have found the perfect opportunity too.

Draco was still holding Hermione-no, Granger in his arms and he tried to tell himself that it wasn't gently. That he was just holding her and that was it. But of course, it didn't look that way. One hand was wrapped around her thin waist while the other cradled her head in his lap. And he couldn't help but think of how soft her bushy-looking hair felt on his fingers and he stopped himself from wrapping a strand on hair around a finger to feel it properly.

Snape looked from Harry to Ron to Draco and then back again. He was about to say something when the bell rang overhead, making the three soon-to-be-men jump, Draco's grip tightened momentarily on Hermione's body, but still, she didn't wake.

Everyone else in the room grabbed their things and headed out for their next class while Draco with Hermione, Harry and Ron, Snape, and Blaise stayed behind.

Snape pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He turned his back on them and headed for his office, throwing words behind him, not caring what the reaction would be.

"One of you just take her to the damned Hospital Wing. And if you start fighting over it, take it outside." And he slammed his door shut, leaving the four boys staring at each other or the brown haired girl who was sound asleep.

"Give her to us Malfoy." Spat Ron.

Draco smirked. "And why should I? She seems to quite like being in my arms." That wasn't exactly true but she wasn't grimacing or feigning away in her sleep so it counted for something. Draco told himself he was just trying to tease the two boys before him but something in the back of his mind kept nagging him, kept saying things like he liked her in his arms and rubbish like that. But he just pushed the thoughts away and focused on the enraged red head who was starting to grab for his wand.

Blaise was immediately at his side, wand drawn and pointed at the Weasel's chest. Harry drew his wand and pointed it at Blaise who switched to Harry. Draco carefully but hurriedly dropped Hermione and raised his own wand to point at Ron. It was like a square with Hermione in the middle of it all. Draco noticed with disdain how strong and fearless the Boy Who Lived to Make His Life One Fucked Up Place and his sidekick seemed to be faced with the safety of their little Mudblood. It totally pissed him off for no reason why she let them protect her like this. She was a strong and smart girl, she could take care of herself. Maybe not in the position she was in presently but like before when they were waiting for the Potions doors to open, she had just let the two stand in front of her while she did nothing.

Draco's arm locked and he was about to draw breath to utter a jinx when Snape's raised voice reached them through the thick door of his office.

"You had all better be gone in thirty seconds! And if your not and I find you with your wands drawn, I will give you all detention!"

Blaise and Harry, the more reasonable of the four immediately dropped their wand arms, though slowly. While Ron and Draco continued to glare at each other, them being the more temperamental of the group.

"Ron, just lower your wand." Harry said softly.

"Not until he lowers his and leaves Hermione alone." Ron growled.

Draco smirked. "Now we all know that that last part won't happen for quite some time. For everyone knows who much I like to play with her."

Ron's face turned a deeper red than his hair and he gripped his wand ever tighter.

"Ron…" Harry said, shooting a glance at Snape's office door. Their thirty seconds were nearly over.

Draco watched as the red head gnashed his teeth in indignation but lowered his wand very slowly. Draco did so as well but rather smugly.

"Come on Draco, lets get out of here before Snape opens his doors and gives you another detention." Blaise said calmly. When he saw Draco hesitate, he grabbed him firmly by the arm and dragged him away, leaving Hermione with her best friends to take her to the Hospital Wing. He didn't know why but that made him very angry indeed. And his mind continued to think dark thoughts about the filthy blood traitor all the way to Arithmancy.

The two boys entered the room just as the bell rang. Professor Vector gave them a reproachful look which Blaise managed to charm away while Draco sat broodingly at his desk, absentmindedly flipping through the thick Arithmancy book.

While Professor Vector was talking about what they will be learning today, Blaise tried to get Draco to talk to him about what happened.

"Draco, what happened back there? Blaise asked curiously. It was like you couldn't let her go. I thought you said she was a filthy Mudbl-"

"Don't you dare say that word about her." He said ferociously. He then thought about what he had just said and his mouth fell open in shock. "I…I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry for yelling at you Blaise."

Blaise's cinnamon eyes softened slightly in sympathy to his best friend. He nudged him gently with his elbow. "It's all good, man. I saw the potion too. It's okay, you're just under shock, that's all."

"But that's just it! That potion-"

"Mr. Malfoy, please keep quiet in my class and pay attention. Mr. Zabini, I expect better from you." Professor Vector had appeared out of no where. She looked down her plump nose at them with an irritable expression on her face. "Now please turn to page 889 in your books and begin reading on what city is compatible with your Character Numbers. If you cannot remember them, I suggest you do so, and soon please, we will be advancing ever more this year." And she walked off to help a Ravenclaw girl by the name of Marie Moon who was having problems deciding if she really should live in Italy or not while her best friend Sophia Cozna was having the same difficulty except with some other far of place and whether she should open a bakery or not.

"Of course ma'am." Blaise had said before she had walked off to help the confused Ravenclaw girls. But when her back was turned his face fell and he stuck his tongue out at her quite childishly. "Ugh, she can be a right pain in the-"

"I don't care is she causes you pain, back to the damned potion, but discreetly this time if you will. This is, well, bad." Draco whispered as he looked through his book and wrote down Tokyo though he had no interest at all in going there. He had heard that the cherry blossom trees, though beautiful were commonly used by witches there to steal hearts. Literally.

"How is this bad?" Blaise asked, affronted. "Did I not tell you that you needed someone smart, beautiful, and not-clingy? She's fucking perfect! She beats you in every class so she's obviously smart."

"Yes, but too smart. I want someone submissive, not someone who can easily bounce back." Draco scoffed.

Blaise frowned. "Submissive? We are just talking about a little girlfriend-boyfriend thing here right? Just a little fling? Not strings attached?"

Draco was silent.

"My God. You're taking that potion seriously?!" Blaise's voice rose. He turned apologetically to Professor Vector and resumed taking notes while looking through the book in front of them. There was silence for a few moments before he deemed it safe that Vector had moved on to someone else. Then he rounded on Draco.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He whispered furiously. "Its just a damn potion! She could have done something wrong for all we know!"

"Which is highly unlikely and you know it." Draco bit back.

"Yes, well, she's brilliant like that I suppose." He submitted. "But, you never know, she could have been so distracted but out plan that she wasn't paying close enough attention or the fumes got to her or-"

"Blaise, just drop it. She didn't mess up on her potion." Draco glared at him.

Blaise raised his hands in defeat. "Fine. But now it sounds to me as if you want this to be true. Like you want to be with her."

"Of course I don't! I don't want a filthy Mu-" But he couldn't say it. It was like his throat had closed up or something. He cleared it and tried again. "She's just a M-" But he didn't even make it passed the first sound. It wasn't natural. He thought back to when Hermione had fainted….

"Oh shit."

"What? What's wrong?" Blaise's voice was worried.

"You know when I ran to catch Granger when she fell?" Draco asked anxiously.

"Yes…" Blaise said slowly.

"You know how I knocked over her potion when I tried to get to her?" His voice now seemed as if the obvious was right there but for the life of him, Blaise couldn't get it.

"Yeah so? I just saw it spill on the floor." But Draco was shaking his head before Blaise had even finished and then it dawned on him with such force he gasped aloud.

"No way…" He whispered. "The potion fell on you didn't it?"

Draco nodded and lifted the hem of his robes for the two of them to see his damp sock.

"Oh shit." Blaise repeated. Then he whistled under his breath. "She's one fine potions brewer. If she could make her potion work with just a little soaked patch of a sock, I don't think I wanna be there when she makes the Draught of Living Death."

Draco nodded solemnly. "I think this sets back our plans a bit don't you think?"

Blaise sighed. "Yep."

They were silent for a while. Draco stared off into space while Blaise continued to stare at Draco's ankle. Then he scoffed. Draco looked at him with a frown on his face. "What's your problem?"

"Just when I get a good plan, she fucking ruins it. And she doesn't even know! Ugh! That just makes me wanna jump into the lake with the big fat fucking squid." Blaise's voice rose dramatically. They both realized too late that this was a very bad thing and both raised their heads slowly to find a Professor Vector glaring full out at them.

"You probably shouldn't have sworn quite so loudly, mate." Draco whispered.

Blaise just gulped in fright.

**AN: I finished!! Hell yeah!! Hope you like! 10 pages!! Whoop whoop!!**


	5. STORY HAS BEEN ABANDONED

This Story is Being Abandoned

I am terribly sorry but I have lost my motive for continuing this short lived story. I was merely making it up as I went but I now feel that I should go about writing in a more planned out way.

Suffice to say, I will not be updating for a long while. Not that it hasn't been a long while in the first place. I'm sorry if I've disappointed anyone who actually like this, but I find there to be no point if I can't even think of something that could happen in future chapters.

Again, I'm sorry.


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